"I really love hip hop and I thought if I had to pick one album it'd have to be the first Wu-Tang album just for the personalities, and the real rawness and lo-fi urgency about it. I love the audacity of having an interview with the band in the middle of the record. It's something that I think independent music scene should start doing… in the middle of the next Pastels album, like, Stephen and Katrina start talking about how good they are. I need to make it so. I don't think I really got properly into hip hop until the last five years. Something suddenly clicked where it really made sense. These days I like Danny Brown and A$AP Rocky, things like that."

"My dad used to work in London for British Telecom. He used to walk an incredible distance from the nearest train station. It added an hour on to his day in each direction. I think he needed the solitude. At a certain age, my sister and I were allowed to walk and meet him part of the way; we would wait by the bridge that went over the A12. One day my dad arrived holding a 12” record in a brown paper bag. “I bought it for you two.” This was not a regular occurrence. “You've bought a record for us? For both of us? Do we have to share it?” The Kids From Fame managed to unite my entire family. My sister liked Coco and the dancers. I loved Bruno and his synths, but I fancied Danny. I still fancy Danny. I saw him on a reunion programme. He's still gorgeous. I can name all the characters and the actors from the first two series, including guests Janet Jackson and Donny Osmond. It brought all ages and races together. It was the United Nations of pop music. Like the Thompson Twins, it made me question how music was made and put together. How did they all know what to do? Why can I hear drums but not see them? They didn’t show the last four series in the UK. Arseholes."